58 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



AL'GIST 39. IS38. 



off— and as the tops of the sheaves incline to tlic 

 centre, they support •'<\rh other, and will stand till 

 the grain is thoroughly cured. 



I am well satisfied with the ram. He has 

 grown well, and is fat ; his fleece weighed 5 1-4 

 lbs. 



I have raised 20 Iambs, of good quality for *ize 

 and wool. At shearing time I weighed two of the 

 be.st of them ; one was just two months old and 

 weighed It lbs. — the other was five days older, and 

 weighed 4(5 lbs. 



Just a month from that date my steelyards, which 

 draw GO lbs., would not swing him. By housing 

 time he will probably be as large as the ram was 

 when 1 bought him. 



Yours truly, 



HORACE WILDER. 



(Published by Request.) 

 NEW SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 



In the last message from De Witt Clinton to the 

 Leo-islature of New York, he remarked, that with a 

 propay system of education, and correct njodes of 

 teacning, all our children might become familiar 

 with the physical sciences, botany, mineralogy, the 

 various classes of ajiimals, chemistry, natural phil- 

 osophy, astronomy, the fundamental principles of 

 agricultural and political economy, and with nnich 

 in history and biography, without any additional 

 expense of time or money for their instruction. — 

 The soundness and truth of this remark has since 

 been fully proved by the system of education in 

 Prussia and other German States: as it has by 

 schools 'for deaf mutes and the blind in this coun- 

 try. 



The following facts also show that the same re- 

 mark may be fully sustained as a j.lain deduction of 

 reasoning : 

 ^ 1. Spelling books, in common use, contain from 

 ten to fifteen thousand words. To learn the or- 

 thography of each word by the dint of memory, 

 founded on the arrangement or relative position of 

 tlie letters, nmst require as much time and effort 

 as to learn the names, properties, and uses of ten 

 plants, minerals, animals, or shells ; or ten princi- 

 ples in chemistry, natural philosophy, astronomy, 

 agriculture, or political economy ; or the same num- 

 ber of facts in history or biography. Consequently 

 while a cliild is committing to memory the words 

 in a spelling book, he might learn a hundred thous- 

 and of the objects, principles, or facts above re- 

 ferred to. 



2. The time, paper, ink and quills, ordinarily used 

 by children in school, in copy writing, would be 

 sufficient for writing the names, with brief descrip- 

 tions of the same objects, principles, and facts. 



3. The time spent in re|)eating lessons from read- 

 ing books, if devoted to the reading and study of 

 the Bible, works on science, history, &c. would be 

 sufficient for e.xamining with some care, and for some 

 critical reudins; of, at least one author, on each of 

 the subject.*! above mentioned. 



4. The time usually spent in memorizing gram- 

 mar lessons, would be sufficient for practical and 

 critical exercises in descriptions and narrations, re- 

 lating to the objects of nature and art, with scenery, 

 operations, and events, witnessed by children dur- 

 ing the period of their school days and years. 



5. By this practical, rational, and consequently 

 interesting cource of exercises in spelling, writing, 

 reading and grammar, it must be evident to every 

 one, tliat children would become more familiarly 



and thoroughly acquainted with these mechanical 

 parts of education, than they could possibly be by 

 a mere repetition of them for days, months and 

 years, like so many parrots, without any knowledge 

 of their meaning, sense, or use. 



In proof of the correctness of the above state- 

 ments, I beg leave to mention that I have had oc- 

 casion to know many thousand children who have 

 learnt the names, and something of the properties, 

 of from twenty to thirty objects in one hour, many 

 of whom had probably spent, not only days and 

 weeks, but months, if not years, in learning the 

 twentysix letters of the alphabet ; and after all 

 they jirobably did not obtain one distinct rational 

 idea, from what was considered their instruction, 

 though, it is true, they must have received many 

 from tlieir sports, and from their walks to and from 

 school. 



To secure the important objects specified by the 

 distinguished statesman and philosopher above nam- 

 ed, and now realized by the subjects of some ab- 

 solute monarchs, the following provisions are desir- 

 able, perhaps essential : 



1 Encouragement and aid to children in study- 

 ing the volume of nature, with which all are de- 

 lighted, and which they commence reading when 

 they first open their eyes upon the light of heaven. 



2. Assistance in collecting, arranging, and er- 

 changing tcith others, specimens of minerals, plants, 

 shells, drawings, mechanism, needlework, &c. &c. 

 for the contents of Family Cabinets. 



3. The formation of " School Cabinets" in all 

 the seventy thousand schools in our country, and 

 exchanges with each other in works of Nature and 

 Art. 



4. The early and daily use of slates for drawing 

 objects of Nature and Art, such as the simple fig- 

 ures of geometry, viz ; triangles, squares, hexagons, 

 and cirples ; horses, dogs, birds, fishes, and insects ; 

 hatchets, knives, pitchers, shovels, ploughs, &c. 



5. Writing words, or names of things, as dog, 

 cat, hat, oak, rose, mica, lime, slate, &c., in con- 

 nection with the things themselves, or pictures of 

 them drawn by the children. 



Following the pictures and names of objects, 

 brief and familiar descriptions of them, first on 

 slates, and then on paper, by lead pencils, followed 

 by pens. 



G. Simple instruments for visible illustrations, 

 both in families and schools, viz: a globe, geome- 

 trical solids, levers, pullies, screws, maps and other 

 drawings or prints, &c. &c. 



7. Frequent walks in the fields and gardens, over 

 ledges or mountains, by rivulets or brooks, through 

 markets, on wharves, in mechanics' shops, marble 

 and granite yards, aided and encouraged by the 

 presence and instruction of a teacher, parent, older 

 brotJiev or sister, or some other protector. 



8. Small, simple and familiar books, describing 

 the objects, principles or operations they have wit- 

 nessed by their lessons in the book of Nature. With 

 tiiese some of the beautiful and interesting passages 

 from the Bible, selected from the Gospels, tlie 

 Psalms, Proverbs, or the historical sketches of the 

 Old Testament, are peculiarly appropriate and de- 

 lightful to children. 



!). Larger and more systematic works on the 

 sciences, art-s, history, biography, and the Bible 

 more fully, with abstracts, reflections, or drawings, 

 of things and incidents, learnt from first elements 

 of mature study. 



10. Releasing children, principally or entirely, 

 from the incongruous, unmeaning and irksome mas- 



ses, found in spelling books, reading books and 

 grammars, now consuming the greatest part of the 

 precious time of children allotted to their educa- 

 tion. 



As a course of juvenile instruction, similar to 

 that here pointed out, must commend itself to the 

 common sense of every one, and as it is fully tried 

 and corroborated by experiments, both in Europe 

 and America, it is, at least, worthy of trial by every 

 parent and teacher in our Republican nation. 

 I remain, as ever, sincerely yours, 



J. HOLBROOK. 



GEOLOGY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

 We have made a few extracts from Professor 

 Hitchcock's Geological Report, which will undoubt- 

 edly be read with much interest We think this 

 report is of much importance to the agriculturalist, 

 as well as to the geologist, and shall from time to 

 time give some extracts from it. J. B. 



EXA.MINATON FOR CaI-CAREOUS MaTTER IN OUR 



Soils. — A preliminary step of great importance in 

 this analysis, consisted in a examination of the 

 soils to ascertain whether they contain lime in tlie 

 state of a carbonate ; — that is, common limestone. 

 And I conducted the process in the following man- 

 ner. A small quantity of the soil was introduced 

 into a watch glass, so placed that the light from a 

 window would fall upon it. This soil was covered 

 with water to a considerable depth. The soil was 

 then stirred until all the light matter and every 

 bubble of air had risen to the top. The impurity 

 that floated on the surface was then removed by 

 drawing over it a piece of bibulous paper, so that 

 the water stood perfectly clear above the soil. Then 

 a few drops of muriatic acid were added by a drop- 

 ping tube, and the water was carefully watched to 

 see if any bubbles rose through it, as they would 

 have done if any carbonate were present. The 

 minutest quantity of gas escaping, could in tliis 

 manner be perceived. The result disclosed the 

 remarkable fact, that out of one hundred and twenty- 

 five specimens of soils from all parts of the State, and 

 severid of them from limestone trcuts, only seven of 

 them exhibited any effervescence ; and even these, 

 when analysed, yielded but a very small per cent 

 of carbonate of lime, viz : 

 No. 31. Gray wacke soil Watertown, 1.3 per cent. 



— 51. Limestone soil, Sheffield, 0.8 " 



— 52. Do. West Stockbridge, 3.2 " 



— 78. Gneiss soil, Westminster, 3.0 " 



— 80. Do. Fitchburg, 2.1 " 



— 113. Sienite soil, Wrentham, 0.4 " 



— 125. Greenstone soil, Deerfield, 2.0 " 

 Even in three of tlie above cases, Nos. 78, 80 



and 125, I am strongly suspicious, that tlie calcar- 

 eous matter might not have been natural to the 

 soils. For, contrary to my usual custom, in these 

 cases I took the specimens from small patches of 

 cultivated ground near villages ; and very likely 

 these spots might have been manured witli sea 

 shells, or lime in some other form. Setting these 

 aside, only one in thirty of our soils contains any 

 calcqjeotis matter. This is so different from tJie ac- 

 count given in the books of European soils, tliat it 

 will doubtless be very surprising. For some of 

 these contain more than 50 per cent of this sub- 

 stance ; and nearly all of them a large per cent. 

 But in our country the lack of calcareous matter is 

 not confined to Massachusetts. In llie able work 

 of Edmund Ruffin, Esq. of Virginia, on calcareous 

 manures, a similar statement is made respecting the 



